Inst wrote:I've been promising this for a while, and I doubt people might enjoy it, this is a fun article I found in one of my Chinese textbooks.
改编自《北京青年报》同名文章,作者:孙小宁。
Modified from Beijing Youth Daily, article of the same name, author: Sun Xiaoning.
学一门外语需要理由吗?
"Do we need a reason to learn a foreign language?"
[Translation mine:] "Does learning a foreign language need a reason?"
我想学一门外语,迫不及待的想不再依靠翻译,独自阅读原文,哪怕是借助字典勉强查阅呢。我很快找到了一家语言学习机构,他在离我家不远的移动办公楼上。这天我兴致勃勃地转成钱去咨询。
I want to learn a foreign language, impatiently reading without translation, independently reading the original text, even if I must painfully depend on a dictionary. I quickly found an organization that taught languages in a building near my home. So today, I enthusiastically went to inquire inquire of them.
进了门,一位很有修养的女士迎上来,我以为交了学费就能开始快乐而美好的学习了,不了首先面对的是她接连不断地发问:“为什么要学外语?最近有出国计划吗?职业是什么?”
When I went in, a very cultivated lady greeted me. I thought that after paying tuition, I'd be able to start my happy and beautiful studies. I didn't know that I'd have to have her ask me such incessant questions: "Why do you want to learn a foreign language? Do you have plans to leave the country soon? What's your occupation?
“这很重要吗?”说实在的,她的问题涉及了我的隐私,我很反感,话也变的火药味十足。
Is this important? Speaking frankly, her questions violated my privacy, disgusting me greatly. My words tasted like gunpowder.
她极力忍耐着,“是这样,我必须了解学员,为学员着想,帮他策划学习方案,已达成他的目标。”
She forcefully restrained herself. "It's like this. I need to understand the student, in order to take the student into consideration and to help them formulate a study plan and achieve their goals."
我努力使自己的空气缓和下来:“我没什么具体目标。就是找一个班插班听课,随意学学而已。”
I assiduously moderated my speech: "I don't have a particular goal. I just want to find a class to audit, merely so that I can learn at my leisure."
....
I'll translate the entire text later, I'm tired and I have a bunch of things I need to do.
But you can get the gist of it, right? A language learner who learns for fun goes to a language school that's focused on results, and we get a fun looking little culture clash. It's similar to our argument and attitudinal difference.
Ugh, those sound like annoying questions. I’m mostly learning a language for personal reasons and personal development. I know I’m not studying Hebrew as quickly and effectively as I could. But I enjoy the process of learning what I enjoy and tolerate and what burns me out.
As I get more productive at learning Hebrew, I also get more productive at life in general.